EB-1B Outstanding Researchers or Professors

What is an EB-1B Petitioner and Who Qualifies?

EB-1B is an employment based immigrant visa that falls under the EB1 category. EB-1B visas are granted to immigrants who are outstanding foreign professors and researches. The immigrant must be recognized internationally as being outstanding in a specific academic area. In addition to needing to be internationally recognized for being outstanding in a specific academic area, the immigrant must also (1) be entering with a permanent research position at a research organization or have a tenure track teaching position at an institution of higher learning, (2) be recognized as “outstanding” in the field, (3) have experience teaching or researching in the field, and (4) if their employer is a private institution, the institution must provide information showing they employ at least three researchers and document their accomplishments in the field.

When filing for an EB-1B, the applicant must accompany their petition with evidence that they are internationally recognized as outstanding in the specified academic field. In order to meet this requirement, applicant must provide two of the following: (1) documentation of their receipt of a major prize or award for outstanding achievement in the academic field; (2) documentation of their membership in an association within their academic field that requires outstanding achievement to join; (3) published material in professional publications written by others about the applicant’s work in the academic field; (4) evidence of the applicant’s participation, either individually or on a panel, as the judge of the work of others in the same or an allied academic field; and (5) evidence of the applicant’s authorship of scholarly books or articles (in scholarly journals with international circulation) in the academic field.

Like other employment based visas, EB-1B visas have a quota; however, the quota is typically never met making the process of switching to an EB1B visa easy if you qualify. Furthermore, there are no requirements as far as having a test done for the US job market, thus making the overall process only a few months long.

The major pro, as listed earlier, is that the cap for EB-1B Visas is generally never met and the overall process time is relatively fast. The downside to obtaining an EB1B visa is that immigration services tends to be hesitant to grant EB1B visas, therefore making EB2 and EB3 visas more desirable at times.

Required Documents

When filing for an EB1B visa, the applicant’s employer, who is the one sponsoring the applicant, must file a Form I-140, Petition for Alien Worker, on behalf of the applicant. Furthermore, the applicant must provide the filing fees, which differ based on whether or not the applicant is going for premium processing or regular processing. In addition to providing documents that meet the outstanding researcher/professor criteria, you must also prove you have an offer of employment at a business with a distinguished reputation having at least three researchers on staff, or if it is a university, that you have been given a tenure track position.

Interesting fact about EB1B Visas

There is currently no backlog for the processing time and approval of EB1B visas and there priority dates are current, which is very important for immigrants coming from certain countries that have priority dates for common visas that are far out.

What is the Attorney’s Role in an EB1B Petition

Due to the EB1B visa petition needing to be presented in an organized manner with a cover letter strategically written as to highlight why the applicant is an outstanding professor, without confusing the case reviewer, it is important to higher an immigration attorney to prepare the case. Even if the applicant is qualified for an EB1B visa, due to the complexity of the paperwork, immigration services may not understand the significance of the worker’s contributions. This is where an attorney plays a pivotal role in compiling the EB1B application to ensure it is written in such as way as to clearly convey to the immigration service the significance of the applicant’s contributions to the academic world to the immigration service. Furthermore, due to the attorney’s experience and deep knowledge of the EB1B application process, they will be able to ensure that the proper documents are compiled and sent.

Contact Us

To discuss EB-1B petitions and other types of employment based petitions with an experienced immigration attorney from the American Visa Law Group, feel free click the contact us tab and fill out the inquiry form or call us at 510-500-1155.